We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Spencer Rivers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Spencer below.

Hi Spencer, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.

Okay, so I have two that popped into my mind that I personally (looking back now) find absolutely hilarious – you know, one of those memories you look back on now and just wish you could go back in time and watch unfold like bad a reality TV show that you can’t look away from. The first one happened to me at a final walk-through with one of my most beloved buyer clients now. I was doing my thing – touching, checking, smelling everything (you never know what could have happened since you and your buyer client(s) were there last). As normal I go to turn on the Main bathroom tub faucet to ensure it’s working and drains properly. I turn one side on and simply push it back causing the knob to COMPLETELY fall off, I try the other knob that one falls off too. Ok, great – so now the water is gushing and both knobs are broken off, in the “on” position…but stuck. I don’t carry tools with me, the house is empty, water running for a few minutes, and at this point, my panic starts to rise. Of course, in retrospect, I knew where the main shut-off for the water was so really not SO much of an emergency, but in my state of “must fix this”, I ran over to the neighbor’s house and knocked on their door frantically and said “Hey, ya’ll won’t believe me but I was wondering if you have any pilers I could borrow to get this water turned off because the knobs fell off and it’s just running water and I am a Real Estate Agent with my buyers we are on a final walk through” in one long breath. I probably seemed like a crazy person but to my luck, the neighbor was SO nice grabbed his toolbox, ran over, got the water shut off in a jiffy, and next thing I know we’re all talking/laughing in the front yard together, my clients getting to now meet their new neighbors in a funny and memorable way. The moral of the story – things always fall into place, sometimes just in the funniest of ways. Story #2 is short and sweet…I was showing the CUTEST house in Raleigh to my buyer clients and we were wrapping up the showing, as we are walking out I go to lock the front door and I realize I cannot find my car keys. I look around quickly, can’t seem to find them, and not wanting to look silly in front of my (then new) clients, I wished them off and told them not to wait up. Yup, you already see where this one is going. I SEARCHED for my car keys which are on a huge keychain for this exact reason. I mean searching under the couches, everywhere…I call the listing agent to let them know why I am still there and she explains her Sellers are on their way home…Awesome! I think. I figure the only thing that could have happened is I dropped them on the front porch or yard on my way up to retrieve the house key. So I run around outside with my phone flashlight searching for my keys so I can go home, to no avail. Oh BTW, this was showing number seven and the last of the day and I was exhausted! I gave up, accepted my defeat, and called my fiance to come to pick me up – I then remembered the front door had a ring camera. Cool cool cool, these people just probably witnessed my full-on frenzy of a search and laughed the entire time – I mean I would have laughed if the role was reversed, to be honest. Mortified, I asked the Listing Agent to please let me know if they ever find my car keys (how embarrassing, right?). The next morning I get a text from my client who was super apologetic because she went to leave for work and pulled out my keys from her purse instead of her own (LOL)….The moral of this story is everyone has “freakouts” on the job, most are behind the scenes (also for me, recorded on a Ring Device) but at the end of the day remind yourself that you do your job well and you’re where you’re meant to be!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Spencer, I usually go by Spence. I am a local Real Estate Broker, serving primarily as a Buyers Agent Specialist. I am also a local Property Manager for short-term AirBnB as well as long-term rentals in the RTP area and beyond. I got into this industry because my parents have an established Real Estate Services career and I finally got smart and realized one, the importance of owning Real Estate as a way to build generational wealth, and two the want to help my friends and those in my community become homeowners instead of renters and start investing in themselves.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In my previous feature, I wrote a lot regarding my change in career Post-Covid. I was in Hospitality Management/bartending before I was a Real Estate Broker & Property Manager – both previous positions hold special places in my heart. Deciding to go to Real Estate school and eventually join my family’s team – which has now grown into a team of four agents, and one admin. Two of those agents are my parents (Alan & Mk Smith) and our new Admin/Closing Coordinator is Ashley Rivers (who is my Aunt/Mom’s Sister). Working with family and other longtime top-producing agents (Kelli Kaspar & Janet Allen) has been one of the best choices I think I could have made in my career, which is still only in its super infant stages. My job would be so much harder, less fun, and really unimaginable without the daily guidance of my entire team. We are all different types of people personality wise but also mesh and have the same goals & priorities – I think the best teams are this way, sort of a yin-and-yang type balance.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

A lot of people think that you jump into Real Estate and start making money off the bat. Unfortunately, that is not the case and at first, you actually sort of lose money more than you make it. After you obtain your license, the next thing that happens is ALL the local big-name and even small-name Brokerages or Firms will send you mail, emails, text, and calls, to recruit you to their team or Firm. It’s a little overwhelming but also nice to feel sort of “wanted” after working SO hard to get that License. So who you go with is really important in my opinion. A lot of new agents get bummed out by the commission splits or “fees” that come along with signing on with a Firm. You just have to stay positive and remember that the team and/or Firm provides SO many essential things to my personal business, like hosting/funding our client events, marketing items, lead generation, always changing Market Stats/Insight, and the list goes on…So once you get the ball rolling and you have your foundation you come to see that you reap what you sow – it just takes time. Shout to KW Elite in Durham & my lovely team the Kaspar RiverSmith Group!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://soldbyspence.kw.com
• Instagram: @spence_riversmithteam
• Facebook: @spencerwithriversmith
• Linkedin: Kaspar RiverSmith Group
• Twitter: @tidetotriangle
• Other: Google Reviews: Search “Kaspar RiverSmith Group”

Image Credits
Main Picture – Kathleen Nolis Photography